Why do you hate me?
by Ginger-Whinger
Summary: It's the start of Lily Evans' seventh year at Hogwarts and something is different about the annoying, yet enigmatic, prat that is James Potter. Lily doesn't understand what it is, why she's noticed or why she cares. J/L MWPP COMPLETE!
1. The Performance on the Platform

Lily Evans took one last look at her family as she walked towards the barrier that separated the muggle and the magical world. Her mother and father beamed back at her, they were so proud of her. Her shiny new head girl badge gleamed back at them as did her glowing smile. Lily's sister clearly did not feel the same way. She had made her feelings perfectly clear about how she felt about her 'freak' sister and she was already walking away from her, heading for the exit. Lily did not care; she was a close-minded, horse-faced fool.

Lily closed her eyes and entered the wall and felt the warmth spread through her as she passed through the barrier. Before she had chance to open her eyes she was enveloped in a hug by her best friend.

"Lily!" squealed Alice. She was a seventh year Gryffindor like Lily and always had a knack of catching Lily off guard with her hugs. "Congratulations, I knew that you would be head girl!"

Lily muffled a word of thanks into her friends shoulder as she was hugged again. Lily left Alice to say goodbye to her family and agreed to meet later on the train. She continued down the platform towards the Hogwarts express with people shouting, "hellos" and "congratulations" towards her. Lily beamed back at them.

Nothing could spoil her mood, well almost nothing. There he stood perfect James Potter, the bane of Lily Evans' existence, with his back to her talking to his friends dubbed the Marauders. His head was hung and both Sirius and Remus had a hand on his shoulder with serious looks on their faces. Lily had been thinking about him a lot about him over the summer. How he had both amused and infuriated her over the past six years. The amusement had ended pretty quickly as in the last two years he had taken to asking her out every chance he got. At first she had tried to let him down gently when he declared his undying love for her but he had been too smug and self assured to take no for an answer and now she felt like he was slowly driving her insane. Sure he was good looking, handsome and talented but far too aware of it. She'd had a lot of time over the summer holidays to think about this subject and about Potter. He hexed any boy who showed any kind of interest in her and embarrassed her in front of the whole school by asking her out in front of them. Repeatedly! Well enough was enough; she was fed up and was going to let him know if he should attempt it again. He had been made head boy even though Lily could think of several boys who deserved it more. Sure he was smart and the Quidditch team captain but he was immature and revelled in others misfortune, especially Lily's. He assumed that every girl would love to go out with him if he just flashed them his smile. To be fair, Lily knew that this was probably true, but his ego was still too large. He just didn't seem to understand that Lily wasn't part of his fan club.

"Please don't see me!" she muttered under her breath. But it would seem that Lily's luck wasn't that great, his best friend Sirius Black had seen her and pointed her out to James Potter. He spun around quickly and smiled at her, although there was something different about him. It was not the smug, convinced smile he usually looked at her with but a smile of relief. He looked drawn and his eyes were bleary as though he hadn't slept and his walk was different as his arms hung by his sides. Lily wondered why she noticed so many differences in him. Had she taken that much notice?

"Hi, Evans," he said while intensely analyzing his shoes, "congratulations on becoming head girl, I knew you would be."

"Thanks, Potter. Well done on getting head boy." Lily was confused; Potter was never uncomfortable, never nervous. A realization suddenly dawned on Lily: He was going to ask her out again. Something snapped in Lily in that moment. She was not going to take this anymore. She wanted to enjoy her last year at Hogwarts without being constantly badgered by Potter. End this now!

James suddenly straightened up and smiled, a broad smile, more like his cocky self. "So err…. Lily, I was …. erm wondering if you … you know …want to …"

"No. I don't," Lily stated firmly.

"What?" James looked confused now. "You don't even know what I was going to ask you!" He broke into a huge grin again. It almost seemed like he enjoyed arguing with her.

"Yes I do. It's the same every time." Lily growled. "I DON'T WANT TO GO OUT WITH YOU, POTTER!" She punctuated each word with sharp prod into his chest.

That irritating smile remained. "That's not what I was going to ask. Anyway, why not Lilykins?" He held back a snigger as Lily blushed. She hated that he could do that to her. "I'm sure if you just gave me a chance you'd see-"

"NO!" Lily cut him off again, aware that she was now shouting and beginning to turn a few heads in the crowded platform. "I don't want to go out with you so stop asking! How could you not understand that after two years!?"

"But Lily I really-" James began but Lily was no longer listening.

"NO! I don't want to hear it." By this time James looked like a rabbit in headlights. He knew she was mad. "You know what Potter you shouldn't be allowed around civilised people. If you can't control yourself then you should just stay at home with your parents!" James eyes glazed over and he had gone pale.

Knowing that she may have finally got through to him, she turned and walked away. Ignoring the glares she was getting from a group of nearby girls that were listening. She heard a shout from behind her.

"You heartless bitch." She recognised the voice as Sirius Black's but she made no acknowledgement of hearing him. It looked to her like one of her rejections had finally landed. Lily's mind wandered, maybe now Potter would leave her alone.

She made her way to the Prefects' carriage without further incident and read in silence. After five minutes the train set off and after ten minutes the prefects began to pile into the carriage. Lily began to wonder where James was, not that she cared but he should be here as the head boy and all. When the mousey haired Remus arrived she made her way over to ask the seventh year Gryffindor prefect about his fellow 'Marauder's' whereabouts. He looked to be having a serious conversation with Amelia Bones a sixth year Ravenclaw who had been one of those glaring at Lily on the platform. Lily couldn't help but overhear the conversation as she scrambled towards him.

"So how is he?" Amelia asked with a concerned expression.

"He's okay. Well as good as can be considering." It was at this unfortunate moment that Remus saw Lily.

"Hi Remus," Lily said, "did you have a good summer? Where's Potter? He's not still crying because I said no is he?!" Lily laughed but instantly realised that this was a mistake. Remus looked furious and was opening his mouth to yell when he was pulled away by an irate and flustered looking Amelia.

Lily didn't understand it. She was good friends with Remus and they often studied together; why was he so angry with her? What had she done to James to make him so apoplectic? Lily did her best to continue with the prefects meeting. She made her greeting speech and handed out the patrol timetable to the prefects. It was very uncomfortable as Lily was well aware of the glares and mumbling that was happening behind her back. Lily concluded, "Okay, I think that's everything, any questions?"

A silence filled the compartment until Angela Wraith the sixth year Gryffindor prefect raised her hand. "Yes, Angela?"

"Well I was just wondering, as I'm sure everyone else is, why you were so mean to James?" Murmurs erupted amongst the other prefects and several shifted in their seats and leaned forward to hear Lily's answer. Lily was understandably shocked as she was good friends with Angela. Why would she want to embarrass her like this?

"Well Angela," Lily began in icy tones, "not that it's any of your business but I was fed up with him asking me out all the time. If that is all then we'll meet again on the first Saturday in October at ten 'o' clock in the Transfiguration classroom."

"That still doesn't explain what you said to him Lily." Amelia piped up. Several people who had begun to gather there possessions paused and settled down in their seats to watch the unfolding drama.

"What do you mean? I talk to him like that all the time. He never takes any notice anyway." Lily was becoming confused, why did they care what she said to James? She had been telling James off since fourth year and it was no secret that she loathed James Potter with a passion.

"Don't you think you crossed the line?" The anger in Remus' voice was badly disguised as he growled what was more of an accusation than a question.

"No, Why?"

"WHY! What do you mean why! He's been through enough without you taking cheap shots at him!" Remus' glare burned into Lily's face as he was stood up now and was the same height. The glare was returned with a look of utter confusion. Remus' features softened and his eyes widened as a look of realisation dawned upon him. "Oh my god. You don't know do you?" Several people gasped at this statement. Remus continued, "Okay everybody out. NOW!" The force of this statement meant that no-one argued.

Remus took Lily by the arm and watched the door until everybody had left.

"What on earth is going on? Why is everyone so upset with me?" Remus stared at her, sighed and urged her into a chair.

"Lily there is no easy way to say this but a week ago James' parents were killed by Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters."

"What!" Everything suddenly became clear why James looked different and why everyone was so angry with her. Lily began to cry, "Oh Remus I was so horrible to him." Remus put his arm around her as she sobbed into his shoulder.

After half an hour Lily had composed herself enough to talk to Remus. She was eager to go and apologise immediately to James but Remus told her that this was unwise and that he wasn't speaking to anyone. He took her to meet Alice and the other girls in compartment towards the front of the train. Remus explained to the girls who immediately understood and he left them to return to the other Marauders. Being a muggleborn Lily didn't hear any news from the magical world during the holidays except in brief notes from Alice who had not mentioned it. She apologised profusely but was quietened by Lily and the other girls who did not blame her in the slightest. Lily felt truly awful, how could James ever forgive her?

Lily and Alice walked into the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table. Lily didn't eat and just sat in silence staring at her plate. Angela had come up to her and apologised and gave her a hug but again Lily had refused saying it was only a misunderstanding. Lily noticed that the Marauders were noticeably missing because their raucous laughter and mischief making usually echoed around the hall. Halfway through the welcome feast Sirius walked through the doors. He saw Lily and acknowledged her with a taut smile and a nod. He grabbed several rolls of bread and put them inside of robes, picked up a couple of plates of food and made for the exit. Professor McGonagall tried to stop him but he whispered something in her ear and she nodded and held the door open for him as he left the hall.

James was not in lessons the next day and only appeared fleetingly at meal times and treated Lily like she had the plague. 'I deserve it' she thought. That was what she didn't stop thinking. It was three days before she attempted an apology but it was as much through necessity. James and Lily were supposed to go on patrol together tonight.

"James." Lily had shouted down the corridor after Charms. He had fled from the classroom upon seeing Lily approach him. Sirius had turned to stop her and held her back as James walked away.

"Leave him alone Lily, he doesn't want to talk to you at the moment." Sirius reasoned.

"But I need to talk to him about patrol tonight."

"I'll tell him but I can't promise anything." With that Sirius turned and chased after James who was by now long gone.

During Transfiguration later that day Sirius walked over to Lily and handed her a letter from James in his untidy scrawl of handwriting. She turned to look at him but found that he was determinedly avoiding her gaze. Lily had received letters from James before but they were nothing like this. The tone of the letter was cold Lily could feel it in the paper. It read:

_**Lily**_

_**I will meet you by the portrait hole at 11**_

_**James**_

**A/N The next chapter is now up!**


	2. The Gryffindor Challenge

Lily waited by the portrait hole for James. By a quarter past eleven she began to wonder if he was coming. The common room was all but silent which made the sound of footsteps descending the stairs from the boy's dormitories much easier to hear. James walked up to Lily and gestured towards the portrait hole. Lily thought it best to hold her silence for a while and stared at James as he walked along side her. She eventually found the courage to speak.

"James," he flinched and closed his eyes for a second but continued walking. "I'm really sorry for what I said." She let the apology hang in the air in hope that he would respond. He remained silent so Lily continued: "I had no idea, I swear."

"Lily," it was her turn to flinch this time. "It's okay. I know that you didn't know. Remus told me about it. I know that you would never say something like that, even to me." He mumbled the last part and audibly sighed. James paused as though he were having trouble getting the words out. "That's not why I'm upset with you."

This surprised Lily she had really not expected that. What else had she said or done that she didn't know about. Before she could think the question had already escaped her lips. "Then why are you?" She grimaced at how self absorbed she came across as.

"You don't care." He stated.

Lily was hurt. "That's not true James I-"

"Yes it is." James returned forcefully through gritted teeth. Lily knew better than to argue this point but was surprised when he continued. "That's why I'm upset Lily. 'You don't care.'" Every syllable was dripping with contempt. He had stopped walking and turned to her. His fists were clenched at his sides and he was staring at the floor again. "I love you Lily Evans and 'you don't care'. You told me to grow up, so I did; I haven't hexed or played pranks on anyone for two years."

Lily opened her mouth to interrupt him but he cut her off pre-empting her addition to this now very one sided conversation. "Except Snape, but we both know that he deserves it." He paused for breath and then unleashed what had clearly been pent up inside of him for months. His voice was scarily calm now. "I have given you nothing but compliments and shown you nothing but love for six years and you still 'don't care'. I haven't even asked you out in months, even though I wanted to. I just knew you'd shout at me again. Like on the platform, I was going to ask if you wanted to go to the prefect's carriage together. But you hate me too much to even listen." He spun on his heel and stormed away from her.

Lily ran after him shouting down the corridor and caught him by the arm. James spun around and looked her in the eye. He bent his knees and lowered himself to her level. He held her shoulders and with his face an inch from hers asked her:

"Why do you hate me?"

Without waiting for an answer he pushed her away and ran down the corridor as fast as he could. Lily stood shell shocked as he left her standing in the dark corridor alone.

Lily could not sleep that night. Everything that James had said to her was still running through her head. "Why do you hate me?" Lily could still not find an answer. She had been asked this question by girls at the school for three years after James had asked to the Christmas ball in fourth year. James had even asked her before with a smile on his face. But this time was very different. She had always responded the same way when asked. It had become like a reflex;

"Because Potter is and always will be an arrogant, bullying git."

It was only now as she lay on her four poster with the curtains closed that she realised she'd had the same blinkered view of James since their first year. He had said one innocuous little comment to her on their first day at Hogwarts and she had never forgiven him even though he had apologised seconds afterwards. He hadn't even needed to apologise he had said that she was pretty…

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Lily remembered that day as their first at Hogwarts. She had just been sorted into Gryffindor house along with Alice, Mary, Sirius, Remus, Peter and James. Although they had just a few seats away from each other in the Great Hall after sorting Lily had not yet spoken to James. They had been led into Gryffindor common room by Luke Johnson the current Head Boy.

"Okay, first years gather round come on." The scared first years none of whom were over five feet tall huddled around Luke who towered over them. Luke beamed he was clearly enjoying himself. "Right this is the common room where you will spend most of your time except for eating and classes. The staircase to your right leads up to the girls' dormitories and to the left the boys."

"The way I remember it is that girls are always right!" One of the female prefects piped in. There were was a smattering of giggles from the group.

"Yes thank you, Sarah." Luke smiled at her. "Your welcome Luke" and she winked at him before heading up the girls stairs. Luke blushed furiously much to the further amusement of the first years.

Luke composed himself and continued. "I now have a question for you all. What are Gryffindors famous for?"

There was silence for a few moments before a shout came from a boy near the back who even in first year was taller than the rest. His scruffy black hair added to his height as it was sticking up in all directions. "Bravery and courage." He said proudly.

"Absolutely correct, now I need a male volunteer to show their Gryffindor bravery and courage!" He looked expectantly into the crowd. As did Lily all the boys were looking at anything other than Luke, except the boy who had just given the answer. He was practically jumping up and down trying to get Luke's attention. "I'll do it!" This made a girl in front of him jump almost out of her skin.

"Excellent," Luke finally responded to the boys pleas. "Come up here by the girls' stairs." He then raised his voice and addressed the whole common room. "Alright everybody gather round, this young man's going to try and get up the girls stairs!" There were murmurs and chuckles from all around as everybody got up and headed towards them. Before Lily knew what was happening she was been buffeted forwards and almost up the girls dormitories stairs herself. Someone walked past her at pace and stood on her foot as they passed. Lily was about to let her indignation be known when he spun around. It was the volunteer.

"Oh I'm really sorry was that your foot? Wow!" He stopped and looked at her as their eyes locked. After a few seconds which felt like minutes he realised that he was beginning to stare and Lily was getting uncomfortable. Lily looked up at him questioningly. The boy blushed and looked away. "Sorry… err again. It's just your eyes are really pretty." He mumbled this last part to the floor. It was now Lily's turn to blush. What do you say to something like that? "I'm James by the way, James Potter." He held out a hand to her and smiled. She took it and blushed some more.

"I'm-" but Lily didn't get chance to tell him her name as James was grabbed by Luke and pulled away from her. He looked at her and gave her hand a small squeeze before releasing it.

"Okay boys and girls gather round because-" Luke looked at James to query his name.

"James Potter." He announced proudly to the amassed Gryffindors.

"James here has taken up the Gryffindor challenge!" There was a small amount of applause. "Okay James your challenge is to get as far up though stairs as possible."

There was a pause. "That's it?" James looked suspicious and Lily thought that he had every right to be.

"That's it." Luke confirmed "When you're ready James." And with that he stepped back to watch James along with everyone else. Every eye in the common room was on James and he looked around at the faces looking back at him expectantly.

"Right here I go." He caught Lily's eyes and winked at her before running full sprint past her up the stairs. A siren blared as James' feet reached the third step and by the time he reached the seventh the stairs had turned into a slide! There was a thump and a groan as James stumbled and began to slide back down into the common room. James was soon lying flat on his face at Lily' feet wrapped up in his brand new overly large robes. The whole common room erupted with laughter and the laughter increased when Sarah came shooting down the stairs even faster than James had. Luke stepped right over James to help Sarah to her feet. Lily held out her hand to help James up which he took gratefully.

"Thanks." He was bright red but grinning from ear to ear. "Well, it looks like I've already fallen for you. The only question now is how long before you fall for me?" He leant forward and whispered the last part into her ear.

All of a sudden wolf-whistles and cat calls were echoing around the common room. Lily was mortified and embarrassed beyond belief. It was her first day at a wizarding school and she was already the person people were laughing at. She forced herself past James, Luke and Sarah whose lips were locked together and stormed up the stairs which had returned to there normal functional state.

"Hey, wait I'm really sorry." But Lily was already up the stairs and James knew that he could not follow. "Damn these stairs! Hey you, what's that girls name?" Though James was shouting his voice was slowly getting quieter.

"Err… not sure, something Evans I think."

"Evans! Hey Evans I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to-" But that was all Lily heard as she slammed the door to her new dormitory.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

She had avoided him from that point on for three years but couldn't stand by and watch as he hexed her friend Severus. Lily had later found out that he had made a flippant comment about what should be done with muggleborns. He was no longer her friend. It was nearly a year later when she found out the truth about that day. The wolf-whistles and cat calls weren't aimed towards her and James but towards Luke and Sarah. It seemed that everyone had been waiting six years for them to get together.

Just like in first year Lily still couldn't take a compliment as James had proclaimed many times. She did not know to react when James told her she had pretty eyes. No boy had ever complimented her before and Lily assumed that he was making fun of her. They spoke little in those first three years because they hung around in different social circles, Lily with Alice and Mary in the library and James in the common with the mischief-making Marauders. James would always smile at her when they did see each other while in class, the corridors, at meals or in the common room.

She had long ago come to terms with her crush on James but she dismissed any suggestions from Alice that he liked her; there was no way that the popular handsome James Potter would be interested in her. She had always blamed him for her lack of boyfriends and would use him as an excuse not to go out with other boys. The truth was that she had never looked at another boy in that way for over six years and that she would rather have an argument with him than spend time with any other boy. Lily had convinced herself that anything James did that impressed her, was an act, put on to try and 'woo' her.

She had looked for James' shortfalls based on her misconceptions of their first meeting in the common room. She had thought of him as arrogant and self-assured but now she remembered all those times he had not been so. She had seen him walk out onto the Quidditch pitch in their fourth year his first game after had made it onto the team. He was looking up into the stands and he and Lily had caught each others eye. "Good Luck" she had mouthed at him and then added a smile. He immediately grinned broadly and straightened up. He played amazingly that day and became a Gryffindor hero overnight. He asked her to the Christmas ball later that week. Lily did not know how to act around boys and so reacted as she had in first year, by blushing feverishly and running away.

Everything James had said to her in the corridor was true. He had been nice and kind to her even though she was horrible to him. He had only pranked people who had deserved it. He had only hexed those who openly insulted muggleborns like Lily or to defend those younger or weaker than him that couldn't defend themselves. He had grown up and he was no longer the immature boy who had asked her out every five minutes.

She had denied his feelings for her for 2 years but she could no longer do so after seeing them as clear as day in his eyes.

**A/N ****Any reviews would be extremely appreciated. Like/dislike, fave parts/worst parts, etc. Thanks for reading!**

**The next chapter is up!**


	3. The Chase

**A/N So here's the third chapter. Apologies for the slow update but I've been crazy busy with my A-level results and sorting out which university I'll be going to in 6 weeks! Enjoy!**

'James Potter likes me.' Lily finally accepted this fact after refusing to believe it for years.

There was a noise from Lily's left coming from behind the curtains of Alice's four poster bed. 'She's awake at last, finally someone to talk to about this!' Lily bounded out of her bed and pulled Alice's curtains apart so fast that they were in danger of ripping. There was a groan from Alice who obviously knew what was coming.

"What's James done this time?" came the question which was muffled by Alice's pillow.

"James said that he loved me." Lily replied. There was a long pause before Alice, who still had her face in her pillow, broke it.

"And?"

"He loves me." Lily said blankly, .shocked by the lack of reaction from her best friend. Alice glared at Lily and glanced at her watch before turning back to her friend with a look of despair.

"You woke me up at six in the morning to tell me something I already knew!" She hit Lily with her pillow. Lily grabbed another and hit Alice back.

There was the noise of more curtains opening from across the dormitory and a soft cough to interrupt the two friends rapidly escalating pillow fight. They both stopped with pillows raised above their heads and looked to the cause of the noise, their friend Sophie sat with a smirk on her face and her eyebrows raised.

Sophie got up and walked over and sat on Alice's bed next to Lily. "Alice, I think you misunderstand."

"Your not going to let me sleep are you?" Alice asked, now with her pillow over her head.

"We may have known that James has liked Lily for years but she has only just realised that he was telling the truth. She always denied it, do you remember? This might mean that if James asks her out again she might say yes." Sophie and Lily exchanged a glance as they watched waiting for Alice to comprehend this information. Alice's brain worked very slowly when she was tired.

"Finally!" She sat up right and shouted to the room. "Did he ask you out? Did you say yes? Are you in love? Can I be your maid of honour?"

Alice went from a zombie to giddy in three seconds, it was highly amusing to watch so Sophie and Lily burst into fits of laughter. Unable to sleep anymore with the noise coming from Alice's bed they were soon joined by Cady who told them to: "Shut up and go to bed" until Alice told her they were talking about boys.

"So are you going to ask him out or wait until he asks you again?" Cady asked.

"Who says I like him back?" Lily replied attempting to sound nonchalant but failing miserably. All three girls raised their eyebrows at Lily as if daring her to deny what they all already knew. "Okay maybe I do, but he won't ask me out he thinks I hate him, which he has every reason to do so." Lily ended sadly. She looked around at her friends who all now had sympathetic looks on their faces.

"What should I do?"

"Erm…. Tell him that you like him and don't hate him at all!" Sophie suggested as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"But how?"

"We don't have to explain the 'birds and the bees' to you do we Lily?" Alice asked sarcastically.

Cady laughed, "It was bad enough when we had to explain to Sophie why Remus doesn't need to wear a bra!" Sophie was appalled and was blushing a fantastic colour. It didn't take long for another pillow fight to break out.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The girls eventually decided that Lily should just tell James that she liked him the first time that they were alone together. This was easier said the done. The Marauders, being the good, considerate, caring friends that they were, didn't let James out of their sight. He was still not back to his old ways which the Marauders presumed was due to his parent's tragic death, but Lily could tell by the way James looked at her whenever he saw her that day, that he was thinking about something or more specifically someone else.

Lily was thinking along the same lines, after classes had finished Lily headed to the library to do her Charms homework. In the peace and quiet her mind soon strayed from the usage of Muggle- repelling Charms across the world to how on earth she would get to talk to James on his own. The thought of approaching the Marauders to try and separate their reluctant leader from them was not an attractive prospect.

She was irked to be broken from her thoughts by a tap on her shoulder. How was she supposed to solve this problem without time to think? She spun around to see a Head Boy badge and a much shinier Gryffindor Quidditch team captain badge. (He clearly polished that one.) Without thinking she had wrapped her arms around James as he crouched next to her chair.

Lily's mind went blank as she snuggled into James' chest. All she could think about was how comfortable she was when James brought his arms around her. Eventually James spoke softly.

"Hi."

Lily smiled, "Hi."

"I'm sorry about last night, what I said was-"

Lily suddenly remembered what she was supposed to talk to James about and interrupted, "completely true. You were right I was horrible to you for no good reason. I'm really really sorry. Can you ever forgive me for what I've done to you for the past three years?" Lily said as she looked up into his eyes.

"Don't apologise I've done much worse things to you. Do you remember when I charmed your ponytail to spin around really fast?" He chuckled.

"Vividly." She sighed. "It took two hours to get me untangled from that candle stand!" Neither moved a muscle for what felt like several minutes, each waiting for the other to speak.

"You were wrong about a couple of things though."

"Oh, what were they?" He seemed genuinely curious.

"I do care, and I don't hate you."

Lily was building up the courage to tell James. Why was this so hard, she could understand Arithmancy so why couldn't she say three words. 'I like you.' "Out loud you twit!" 'Not that bit!' Lily blushed and buried her head once more praying to every god she could think of that he hadn't heard her.

"Lily, is there something you want to tell me?" He slid one finger under her chin and lifted it so that she could see his broad grin. She looked downwards again and focused on his Head Boy badge, eventually she managed to form the three words which turned into nine.

"I sort of… like you… a bit… sort of."

James stood up quickly and finally broke the embrace. He stepped back from Lily so that they could see each other properly. The smile that was on James face seconds before was gone and his eyes were wide.

"What?" His voice was deadly serious.

"I like you." Lily said equally as seriously. She was disheartened that he had broken the contact. Even more so when he backed away from her, out of her reach. He seemed stunned by her words and he stood shell shocked. It was the first time that James had ever been quiet in library for as long as Lily remembered.

"James it took you three years to convince me that you like me. Please don't tell me it'll take that long for me to convince you." She pleaded.

He stood doing a very accurate goldfish impression as his mouth opened and closed and he gazed unblinkingly into the restricted section.

"I've got to go think about this." He turned and walked quickly towards the exit. Lily followed him out into the corridor and called him back once more.

"James," she spoke just loud enough for him to hear her. He stopped so that he could hear her, but he didn't turn. "I – like – you."

He didn't run this time but Lily didn't follow. After an extremely unsuccessful attempt to continue with her Charms essay Lily returned to the common room.

She quickly told Alice, Sophie and Cady what had happened and all three immediately offered the same piece of advice.

"Go after him," Alice said sounded exasperated at the lack of sense Lily had when it came to Boys. "NOW!!"

"But he said he needed time to think."

"That was boy talk Lily." Cady sounded frustrated.

"Remember when I told Frank I liked him. He liked me too but he still ran away." It was true, Frank had tripped over in his haste and knocked himself out on the table in the common room. It was only when he regained consciousness the next day that he reciprocated Alice's feelings. "He's still got the scar on his forehead." Alice smiled; she still thought it was a romantic story.

"But I don't know where he his." Lily made the excuse.

"Remus will." Sophie smiled and immediately got up pulling Lily with her toward the Marauders who were unusually quiet. Remus was reading a book while Sirius and Peter were playing wizard chess. Lily was no expert but she could see that Peter was losing badly. Sirius was losing interest and was idly transfiguring a mug into different animals.

"Hi Remus." Sophie said will falling down onto the couch next to him while Lily took the remaining seat.

Remus immediately closed his book, which he wouldn't do for anyone else except Sophie, to address the new company. "Hello girls, to what do we owe the pleasure?"

Sophie blushed and nudged Remus in the arm. 'She is so smitten,' Lily thought. "Lily is looking for James; do you know where he is?"

This drew Sirius' attention who immediately eyed Lily suspiciously while a monkey sat in front of him chewing on one of Peter's defeated bishops. "Lily, you've spoken to James three times this week and each time he's been upset afterwards. Now I don't know what you've been talking to him about, and I don't want to know, but if you're going to yell at him again, he doesn't need that right now."

Sophie's foot quickly connected with Sirius' leg and he yelped in pain. "Sirius you dolt, Lily wouldn't do that."

Sirius' face dropped. "Sorry Lily that was uncalled for and I'm sorry about what I said on the platform too."

"It's okay, I've recently realised how horrible I've been to James. I might not have deserved it then but I'm sure I have done before." Lily forced a smile which Sirius returned gratefully. "Please could you tell me where he is?"

"He's down at the Quidditch pitch, flying his broomstick." Remus said while shoving a grubby piece of parchment in his pocket.

"He's been going there a lot lately." Sirius said glumly, "It's where he goes to think."

The group sat in silence watching the monkey which was happily eating a banana which Sirius had conjured from somewhere.

"I've been meaning to ask you guys, how do you always know where people are?" Sophie asked while sitting closer to Remus than is usual in a friendship.

"Well dear," Peter spoke for the first time since Lily arrived. He puffed his chest out proudly in a manner which really didn't suit him. "You see we have this –AARRGGH!

Peter was unable to finish the sentence as the monkey launched itself clear over the chess board onto his face and rammed the banana into his ear. He was sent toppling over backwards in his chair kicking the table and sending the remaining chess pieces into the air.

Lily could swear that she saw Sirius return his wand into his robes when he thought no-one was looking, but was distracted by Sophie pushing her up the staircase to borrow Alice's broom.

When she came back down Sirius was helping Peter up from the floor the mug laying smashed beside him. "Blimey Wormtail, remind me to never let anyone trust you with a secret!" He joked.

She was soon pushed out of the portrait hole and found her feet heading towards the Quidditch pitch.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

As the Marauders had correctly guessed James was flying his broom around the hoops of the Quidditch pitch. Lily mounted Alice's broom carefully; needless to say she was not as good a flyer as James. Even though she knew that the charms on these brooms were very powerful, she still didn't trust them.

She kicked off from the ground and rose steadily towards the hoops. It didn't take long for James to see her, but he continued to move around the hoops after a brief pause. Lily was only a few metres away from James when he turned and leant over his broom and streaked away towards the other set of hoops as fast as he could. Lily also made her way over to the hoops only for this to be repeated.

After the third attempt at approaching James she realised that James was smiling, laughing and waiting for her to approach. He even sat on top of the hoop waiting for Lily with a grin on his face. 'What if I fall? How will he feel then? I'll teach him.' She thought. James watched her as she rose high into the air above him maintaining eye contact at all times. James cocked his head to one side to inquire what she was doing. She smiled back at him before rolling off her broom and hanging from it by just her hands.

Lily was surprised by her own courage to pull off this audacious move. She could see James zoom from the hoop he was sat on faster than she had ever soon him move during a Quidditch game. She was greatly pleased by this thought as she let go for the brief fall into James' arms. He didn't seem too pleased though;

"What the hell are you playing at? What if I hadn't caught you?" Lily silenced James by placing a finger softly on his lips.

"James, I've finally fallen for you." She bit back a laugh but couldn't when James failed to hold back his.

"I can't believe you remember that! That was such a cheesy line!" He shook his head.

"Well you thought it was good!"

"But I don't now!" He paused still chuckling every few seconds. "God I was such a dork!" He turned to Lily who was cradled in his arms and looked deeply into her eyes. "Why did you do that Lily?"

"I was never going to catch you so…"

"You thought that you would make me catch you." Another comfortable silence in James' arms; she could definitely get used to this.

"Do you believe that I like you yet?" 'Great Lily, spoil the comfortable silence you were enjoying so much.'

Lily couldn't wait any longer and slowly she took hold of James collar and pulled him towards her. He resisted slightly at first but this ended as soon as their lips connected softly.

When they eventually broke James' hand was on Lily's cheek and around her waist while hers were wrapped comfortably around his neck. They rested their foreheads together allowing their now fast and shallow breaths to mingle.

"Okay Lily," James said between breaths, "you've convinced me."

**A/N You have read to the end! There must be a reason for that! You liked it enough to read all three chapters so please let me know what you liked about this story! Please review!! Constructive criticism is highly appreciated!**

**If you enjoyed this fic please check out my other stories which are also J/L stories like this! If you like this you will like them too I hope.**

**P.S. Anyone else really annoyed by the 8 month DELAY in the HBP release?! WTF is that? I HATE YOU WB!! GRRR!!**

**Thanks for reading, (and reviewing for all those that do, you make my week!)  
Ginger-Whinger ;-P**


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